Even more funnier - Turkey has a literacy rateof 87.4% - not bad, especially when compared with new clear Land of the Pure's shock shock shocking 49% - yet when comp'd with the Strip's amazing92.4% - it's kinda embarrassing

Turkey also has a 23.94% infant mortality rate - nearly one out of every four tiny tiny babies die in Turkey. The Strip is way better at tending to precious little babies @ 17.12% Maybe Little Satan should occupy Turkey to give those rates a boost?

Or maybe instead - the Strippers and their fans should send a few flotillas to Turkey.

Monday, May 30, 2011

This Day is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a nation’s gratitude, the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

The world is a better place because Adolf Hitler did not preserve his conquest of the European continent, and because the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere of Hideki Tojo and his militarists imploded at Midway, Guadalcanal, and Okinawa. Italy and the Mediterranean were far better off without Benito Mussolini and his mad plans for a renewed but debased Roman Empire, which ended on his own Italian soil at exotic-named places like Anzio and Monte Cassino.The dream of Soviet rulers from Stalin to Brezhnev was a global gulag overseen from the blood-stained Communist Kremlin. It ended only through the 50-year deterrence of the American military. South Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan are somehow still free and independent — and would not be without American carriers, jets, and submarines.Our generation’s own rogues’ gallery of killers — Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, Manuel Noriega, and the Taliban — have lost their tyrannies. If South America chooses to become Communist, it will be by its own volition and not because of an unfettered cross-border invasion from Cuba, Nicaragua, or Venezuela. Even our enemies can export or import oil freely from the Middle East without worries of armed intervention or piracy — as long as an American carrier is nearby in the Gulf.It seems as if the more Europe disarms and gnashes at the United States, the more we are there when it needs us. If an ascendant China decides to bully Japan or Taiwan in earnest, only one country can thwart it. No one will call the European Union or Russia should North Korea tomorrow cross the 38th parallel or Iran decide to launch a missile. If Turkey rearranges the border in Cyprus or claims airspace over the mid-Aegean, anti-American Greece will turn pro-American. There will be no second Holocaust, in part because of American military support for Israel.The list of American wars, interventions, and campaigns, past and present, is endless — a source of serial political acrimony here at home over the human and financial cost and wisdom of spending American lives to better others. Sometimes we feel we are not good when we are not perfect, whether trying to stop a Stalinist North Vietnamese takeover of the south, or failing to secure Iraq before 2008. But the common story remains the same: For nearly a century, the American soldier has often been the last, indeed the only, impediment to butchery, enslavement, and autocracy.It was the custom of great leaders from Pericles to Napoleon to declare that the graves of their soldiers in far-off foreign soils were testaments to their nations’ grandeur, power, and reach; yet our white crosses in American cemeteries from Epinal, St.-Mihiel, and Normandy to Manila, Tunisia, and Sicily are tributes to American military courage and competency — and a willingness to see an end to wars that brutal men started and might have won had our youth not crossed the seas.We should remember all that in the present age of cynicism and nihilism, recalling that nothing has really changed, as some Americans this Memorial Day seek to foster something better than Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, and Moammar Qaddafi. Behind every American soldier, dozens of their countrymen tonight sleep soundly — and hundreds more in their shadow abroad will wake up alive and safe.

This weekend is the commemoration of Memorial Day. Take some time to thank God Almighty you live in a free country, and remember that it’s only true because there were and are brave men and women willing to put their lives on hold, deploy overseas, kill creeps and jerks without mercy, give voice to the voiceless, rescue the perishing and care for the dying. America is merciful, America is great, America is awesome and America has shed her blood all over the world to prove it. Just saying.

After all - how secure are Land of the Pure's new clear weaponry? Are they truly disassembled and held in separate locales? How many terrorist sympathizers guard them; are privy to their assembly and alert protocols?

"The attacks audacity, the foreknowledge it implied, the militaristic precision with which it was executed -- carried a message: Pakistan is no longer a contested territory; it is now emphatically their turf. The reins of official power may not be in their hands yet, but the men with whom they rest dare not challenge the extremists' conception of Pakistan. The battle for hearts and minds is over. Moderate Pakistan, if such a thing ever existed, is dead."

In exchange, Great Satan other Western cats would agree to tease it with a $100 billion economic package, administered by an independent authority and disbursed over 10 years, on condition that Pakistan remain a democratic and secular state (no military rulers; no Sharia law).Great Satan could recoup cash and bling bling wasted on Land of the Pure by selling all the warheads to Little Satan, Nippon and SoKo - at a slight mark up (after all, we are not communists) and as ebberdobby knows - new clear democrazies are wonderfully crunk with nation state to nation state stability.

If incentives fail to move the generals in Rawalpindi, then Washington must be prepared to threaten Pakistan with isolation through U.N. mechanisms, including travel bans on its military leaders. Finally, Pakistan must be made to understand the cost of nuclear warfare. If a single nuclear warhead falls into the wrong hands -- or is pressed into service by the right hands -- there will be no Pakistan. Only denuclearization can now save Pakistan from itself -- and the world from Pakistan.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

One of the charming things about the undead is that they tend to continue past their lifespan. Not unlike cruel, unfun, unfree nasty little rats nests of intolerant regimes where fun and free choice are remedied with secret police, secret trials, secret prisons and secret executions.

The revolt in Syria offers great opportunities, humanitarian and geo-political. Western states should quickly and robustly seize the moment to dispatch strongman Bashar al-Assad and his accomplices. Many benefits will follow when they reach their appointed dustbin of history. Foreign: The malign but tactically brilliant Hafez al-Assad blighted the Middle East with disproportionate Syrian influence for decades.

His son, the feckless Bashar, has continued this pattern since 2000 by sending terrorists to Iraq; murdering Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri and overthrowing his son, Saad; aiding the Hezbollah and Hamas terror groups; and developing chemical and nuclear weapons. His riddance will be a universal boon.But Bashar’s main role internationally is serving as Tehran’s premier ally. Though Westerners normally view the Syrian-Iranian alliance as a flimsy marriage of convenience, it has lasted over 30 years, enduring shifts in personnel and circumstances, thanks to what Jubin Goodarzi in 2006 called the two parties’ “broader, long-term strategic concerns derived from their national security priorities.” The Syrian intifada has already weakened the Iranian-led “resistance bloc” by exacerbating political tensions, distancing Tehran from Assad and fomenting divisions in the Iranian leadership. Syrian protesters are burning the Iranian flag; were (S'nni) m"Hammedists to take power in Damascus they would terminate the Iran connection, seriously impairing the mullah’s grandiose ambitions.

The end of Assad’s rule points to other important consequences. Bashar and the ruling Islamist AK party in Turkey have developed such close relations that some analysts see the Assad regime’s removal leading to a collapse of Ankara’s entire Middle East policy. Also, unrest among the Kurds of Syria could lead to greater autonomy for them, which would in turn encourage co-ethnics in Anatolia to demand an independent state, a prospect that so worries Ankara it sent a stream of high-levelvisitors to Damascus and urgently pushed a counter-insurgency accord on it.

Turmoil in Syria offers relief for Lebanon, which has been under the Syrian thumb since 1976. Similarly, a distracted Damascus permits Israeli strategists, at least temporarily, to focus attention on the country’s many other foreign problems.

Domestic: In a smug interview discussing developments in Tunisia and Egypt, and just weeks before his own country erupted on March 15, Bashar al-Assad explained the misery also facing his own subjects: “Whenever you have an uprising, it is self-evident that to say that you have anger [sic], but this anger feeds on desperation.”

The word “desperation” nicely summarizes the Syrian people’s lot; since 1970, the Assad dynasty has dominated Syria with a Stalinist fist only slightly less oppressive than that of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Poverty, expropriation, corruption, stasis, oppression, fear, isolation, m"Hammedism, torture, and massacre are the hallmarks of Assad rule.

Thanks to Western greed and gullibility, however, outsiders rarely realize the full extent of this reality. On one hand, the Syrian regime financially supports the Centre for Syrian Studies at the University of St. Andrews. On the other, an informal Syria lobby exists. Thus, Great Satan's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton refers to Bashar al-Assad as a “reformer” and Vogue magazine publishes a puff-piece on the tyrant’s wife, “Asma al-Assad: A Rose in the Desert” (calling her “glamorous, young, and very chic — the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies”).

One potential danger resulting from regime change must be noted. Expect not a relatively gentle coup d’état as in Tunisia or Pyramidland but a thoroughgoing revolution directed not only against the Assad clan but also the Alawi community from which it comes. Alawis, a secretive post-Islamic sect making up about one-eighth of the Syrian population, have dominated the government since 1966, arousing deep hostility among the majority S'nnis. S'nnis carry out the intifada and Alawis do the dirty work of repressing and killing them.

This tension could fuel a bloodbath and even civil war, possibilities that outside powers must recognize and prepare for.

As impasse persists in Syria, with protesters filling the streets and the regime killing them, Western policy can make a decisive difference. Steven Coll of TheNew Yorker is right that “the time for hopeful bargaining with Assad has passed.”

Time has come to brush aside fears of instability for, as analyst Lee Smith rightly observes, “It can’t get any worse than the Assads’ regime.” Time has come to push Bashar from power, to protect innocent Alawis, and to deal with “the devil we don’t know.”

Mr. Vice President, do you remember the time we were the new kids in town? And I do see a lot of old friends here. And I do see a lot of new friends of Little Satan here. Democrats and Republicans alike.

Little Satan has no better friend than Great Satan. And Great Satan has no better friend than Little Satan. We stand together to defend democracy. We stand together to advance peace. We stand together to fight terrorism. Congratulations America, Congratulations, Mr. President. You got bin Laden. Good riddance.

In an unstable Middle East, Little Satan is the one anchor of stability. In a region of shifting alliances, Little Satan is America’s unwavering ally. Little Satan has always been pro-American. Little Satan will always be pro-American.

My friends, you don’t need to do nation building in Little Satan. We’re already built. You don’t need to export democracy to Little Satan . We’ve already got it. You don’t need to send American troops to defend Little Satan. We defend ourselves. You’ve been very generous in giving us tools to do the job of defending Little Satan on our own. Thank you all, and thank you 44, for your steadfast commitment to Little Satan’s security. I know economic times are tough. I deeply appreciate this.

Support for Little Satan’s security is a wise investment in our common future. For an epic battle is now unfolding in the Middle East, between tyranny and freedom. A great convulsion is shaking the earth from the Khyber Pass to the Straits of Gibraltar. The tremors have shattered states and toppled governments. And we can all see that the ground is still shifting. Now this historic moment holds the promise of a new dawn of freedom and opportunity. Millions of young people are determined to change their future. We all look at them. They muster courage. They risk their lives. They demand dignity. They desire liberty.

These extraordinary scenes in Tunis and Cairo, evoke those of Berlin and Prague in 1989. Yet as we share their hopes, but we also must also remember that those hopes could be snuffed out as they were in Tehran in 1979. You remember what happened then. The brief democratic spring in Iran was cut short by a ferocious and unforgiving tyranny. This same tyranny smothered Lebanon’s democratic Cedar Revolution, and inflicted on that long-suffering country, the medieval rule of Hezbollah.

So today, the Middle East stands at a fateful crossroads. Like all of you, I pray
that the peoples of the region choose the path less traveled, the path of liberty. No one knows what this path consists of better than you. This path is not paved by elections alone. It is paved when governments permit protests in town squares, when limits are placed on the powers of rulers, when judges are beholden to laws and not men, and when human rights cannot be crushed by tribal loyalties or mob rule.

Little Satan has always embraced this path, in the Middle East has long rejected it. In a region where women are stoned, gays are hanged, Christians are persecuted, Little Satanstands out. It is different.

As the great English writer George Eliot predicted over a century ago, that once established, the J'ish state will "shine like a bright star of freedom amid the despotisms of the East.” Well, she was right. We have a free press, independent courts, an open economy, rambunctious parliamentary debates. You think you guys are tough on one another in Congress? Come spend a day in the Knesset. Be my guest.

Courageous Arab protesters, are now struggling to secure these very same rights for their peoples, for their societies. We're proud that over one million Arab citizens of Little Satan have been enjoying these rights for decades. Of the 300 million Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa, only Israel’s Arab citizens enjoy real democratic rights. I want you to stop for a second and think about that. Of those 300 million Arabs, less than one-half of one-percent are truly free, and they're all citizens of Little Satan!

This startling fact reveals a basic truth: Little Satanis not what is wrong about the Middle East. Little Satan is what is right about the Middle East.

Little Satan fully supports the desire of Arab peoples in our region to live freely. We long for the day when Israel will be one of many real democracies in the Middle East.

Fifteen years ago, I stood at this very podium, and said that democracy must start to take root in the Arab World. Well, it's begun to take root. This beginning holds the promise of a brilliant future of peace and prosperity. For I believe that a Middle East that is genuinely democratic will be a Middle East truly at peace.

But while we hope and work for the best, we must also recognize that powerful forces oppose this future. They oppose modernity. They oppose democracy. They oppose peace.

Foremost among these forces is Iran. The tyranny in Tehran brutalizes its own people. It supports attacks against American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. It subjugates Lebanon and the Strip. It sponsors terror worldwide.

When I last stood here, I spoke of the dire consequences of Iran developing nuclear weapons. Now time is running out, and the hinge of history may soon turn. For the greatest danger facing humanity could soon be upon us: A militant Islamic regime armed with nuclear weapons.

Militant m"Hammedism threatens the world. It threatens m"Hammedism. I have no doubt that it will ultimately be defeated. It will eventually succumb to the forces of freedom and progress. But like other fanaticisms that were doomed to fail, militant m"Hammedist could exact a horrific price from all of us before its inevitable demise.

A nuclear-armed Iran would ignite a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. It would give terrorists a nuclear umbrella. It would make the nightmare of nuclear terrorism a clear and present danger throughout the world. I want you to understand what this means. They could put the bomb anywhere. They could put it on a missile. It could be on a container ship in a port, or in a suitcase on a subway.

Now the threat to my country cannot be overstated. Those who dismiss it are sticking their heads in the sand. Less than seven decades after six million J's were murdered, Iran's leaders deny the Holocaust of the J'ish people, while calling for the annihilation of the J'ish state.

Leaders who spew such venom, should be banned from every respectable forum on the planet. But there is something that makes the outrage even greater: The lack of outrage. In much of the international community, the calls for our destruction are met with utter silence. It is even worse because there are many who rush to condemn Little Satan for defending itself against Iran’s terror proxies.

But not you. Not America. You have acted differently. You've condemned the Iranian regime for its genocidal aims. You’ve passed tough sanctions against Iran. History will salute you America.

44 has said that Great Satan is determined to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. He successfully led the Security Council to adopt sanctions against Iran. You in Congress passed even tougher sanctions. These words and deeds are vitally important.

Yet the Ayatollah regime briefly suspended its nuclear program only once, in 2003, when it feared the possibility of military action. That same year, Muammar Qadaffi gave up his nuclear weapons program, and for the same reason. The more Iran believes that all options are on the table, the less the chance of confrontation. This is why I ask you to continue to send an unequivocal message: That America will never permit Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

As for Israel, if history has taught the Jewish people anything, it is that we must take calls for our destruction seriously. We are a nation that rose from the ashes of the Holocaust. When we say never again, we mean never again. Israel always reserves the right to defend itself.

My friends, while Israel will be ever vigilant in its defense, we will never give up on our quest for peace. I guess we’ll give it up when we achieve it. Israel wants peace. Israel needs peace. We've achieved historic peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan that have held up for decades.

I remember what it was like before we had peace. I was nearly killed in a firefight inside the Suez Canal. I mean that literally. I battled terrorists along both banks of the Jordan River. Too many Israelis have lost loved ones. I know their grief. I lost my brother.

So no one in Israel wants a return to those terrible days. The peace with Egypt and Jordan has long served as an anchor of stability and peace in the heart of the Middle East.

This peace should be bolstered by economic and political support to all those who remain committed to peace.

The peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan are vital. But they're not enough. We must also find a way to forge a lasting peace with the Palestinians. Two years ago, I publicly committed to a solution of two states for two peoples: A Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state.

I am willing to make painful compromises to achieve this historic peace. As the leader of Israel, it is my responsibility to lead my people to peace.

This is not easy for me. I recognize that in a genuine peace, we will be required to give up parts of the Jewish homeland. In Judea and Samaria, the Jewish people are not foreign occupiers. We are not the British in India. We are not the Belgians in the Congo.

This is the land of our forefathers, the Land of Israel, to which Abraham brought the idea of one God, where David set out to confront Goliath, and where Isaiah saw a vision of eternal peace. No distortion of history can deny the four thousand year old bond, between the Jewish people and the Jewish land.

But there is another truth: The Palestinians share this small land with us. We seek a peace in which they will be neither Israel’s subjects nor its citizens. They should enjoy a national life of dignity as a free, viable and independent people in their own state. They should enjoy a prosperous economy, where their creativity and initiative can flourish.

We've already seen the beginnings of what is possible. In the last two years,
the Palestinians have begun to build a better life for themselves. Prime Minister Fayyad has led this effort. I wish him a speedy recovery from his recent operation.

We've helped the Palestinian economy by removing hundreds of barriers and roadblocks to the free flow of goods and people. The results have been nothing short of remarkable. The Palestinian economy is booming. It's growing by more than 10% a year.

Palestinian cities look very different today than they did just a few years ago. They have shopping malls, movie theaters, restaurants, banks. They even have e-businesses. This is all happening without peace. Imagine what could happen with peace. Peace would herald a new day for both peoples. It would make the dream of a broader Arab-Israeli peace a realistic possibility.

So now here is the question. You have to ask it. If the benefits of peace with the Palestinians are so clear, why has peace eluded us? Because all six Israeli Prime Ministers since the signing of Oslo accords agreed to establish a Palestinian state. Myself included. So why has peace not been achieved? Because so far, the Palestinians have been unwilling to accept a Palestinian state, if it meant accepting a Jewish state alongside it.

You see, our conflict has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state. It has always been about the existence of the Jewish state. This is what this conflict is about. In 1947, the United Nations voted to partition the land into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jews said yes. The Palestinians said no. In recent years, the Palestinians twice refused generous offers by Israeli Prime Ministers, to establish a Palestinian state on virtually all the territory won by Israel in the Six Day War.

They were simply unwilling to end the conflict. And I regret to say this: They continue to educate their children to hate. They continue to name public squares after terrorists. And worst of all, they continue to perpetuate the fantasy that Israel will one day be flooded by the descendants of Palestinian refugees.

My friends, this must come to an end. President Abbas must do what I have done. I stood before my people, and I told you it wasn’t easy for me, and I said… "I will accept a Palestinian state." It is time for President Abbas to stand before his people and say… "I will accept a Jewish state."

Those six words will change history. They will make clear to the Palestinians that this conflict must come to an end. That they are not building a state to continue the conflict with Israel, but to end it. They will convince the people of Israel that they have a true partner for peace. With such a partner, the people of Israel will be prepared to make a far reaching compromise. I will be prepared to make a far reaching compromise.

This compromise must reflect the dramatic demographic changes that have occurred since 1967. The vast majority of the 650,000 Israelis who live beyond the 1967 lines, reside in neighborhoods and suburbs of Jerusalem and Greater Tel Aviv.

These areas are densely populated but geographically quite small. Under any realistic peace agreement, these areas, as well as other places of critical strategic and national importance, will be incorporated into the final borders of Israel.

The status of the settlements will be decided only in negotiations. But we must also be honest. So I am saying today something that should be said publicly by anyone serious about peace. In any peace agreement that ends the conflict, some settlements will end up beyond Israel’s borders. The precise delineation of those borders must be negotiated. We will be very generous on the size of a future Palestinian state. But as President Obama said, the border will be different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967. Israel will not return to the indefensible lines of 1967.

We recognize that a Palestinian state must be big enough to be viable, independent and prosperous. President Obama rightly referred to Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, just as he referred to the future Palestinian state as the homeland of the Palestinian people. Jews from around the world have a right to immigrate to the Jewish state. Palestinians from around the world should have a right to immigrate, if they so choose, to a Palestinian state. This means that the Palestinian refugee problem will be resolved outside the borders of Israel.

As for Jerusalem, only a democratic Israel has protected freedom of worship for all faiths in the city. Jerusalem must never again be divided. Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel. I know that this is a difficult issue for Palestinians. But I believe with creativity and goodwill a solution can be found.

This is the peace I plan to forge with a Palestinian partner committed to peace. But you know very well, that in the Middle East, the only peace that will hold is a peace you can defend.

So peace must be anchored in security. In recent years, Israel withdrew from South Lebanon and Gaza. But we didn't get peace. Instead, we got 12,000 thousand rockets fired from those areas on our cities, on our children, by Hezbollah and Hamas. The UN peacekeepers in Lebanon failed to prevent the smuggling of this weaponry. The European observers in Gaza evaporated overnight. So if Israel simply walked out of the territories, the flow of weapons into a future Palestinian state would be unchecked. Missiles fired from it could reach virtually every home in Israel in less than a minute. I want you to think about that too. Imagine that right now we all had less than 60 seconds to find shelter from an incoming rocket. Would you live that way? Would anyone live that way? Well, we aren’t going to live that way either.

The truth is that Israel needs unique security arrangements because of its unique size. Israel is one of the smallest countries in the world. Mr. Vice President, I'll grant you this. It’s bigger than Delaware. It’s even bigger than Rhode Island. But that’s about it. Israel on the 1967 lines would be half the width of the Washington Beltway.

Now here’s a bit of nostalgia. I first came to Washington thirty years ago as a young diplomat. It took me a while, but I finally figured it out: There is an America beyond the Beltway. But Israel on the 1967 lines would be only nine miles wide. So much for strategic depth.

So it is therefore absolutely vital for Israel’s security that a Palestinian state be fully demilitarized. And it is vital that Israel maintain a long-term military presence along the Jordan River. Solid security arrangements on the ground are necessary not only to protect the peace, they are necessary to protect Israel in case the peace unravels. For in our unstable region, no one can guarantee that our peace partners today will be there tomorrow.

And when I say tomorrow, I don't mean some distant time in the future. I mean -- tomorrow. Peace can be achieved only around the negotiating table. The Palestinian attempt to impose a settlement through the United Nations will not bring peace. It should be forcefully opposed by all those who want to see this conflict end.

I appreciate the President’s clear position on this issue. Peace cannot be imposed. It must be negotiated. But it can only be negotiated with partners committed to peace.

And Hamas is not a partner for peace. Hamas remains committed to Israel's destruction and to terrorism. They have a charter. That charter not only calls for the obliteration of Israel, but says ‘kill the Jews wherever you find them’. Hamas’ leader condemned the killing of Osama bin Laden and praised him as a holy warrior. Now again I want to make this clear. Israel is prepared to sit down today and negotiate peace with the Palestinian Authority. I believe we can fashion a brilliant future of peace for our children. But Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian government backed by the Palestinian version of Al Qaeda.

So I say to President Abbas: Tear up your pact with Hamas! Sit down and negotiate! Make peace with the Jewish state! And if you do, I promise you this. Israel will not be the last country to welcome a Palestinian state as a new member of the United Nations. It will be the first to do so.

My friends, the momentous trials of the last century, and the unfolding events of this century, attest to the decisive role of the United States in advancing peace and defending freedom. Providence entrusted the United States to be the guardian of liberty. All peoples who cherish freedom owe a profound debt of gratitude to your great nation. Among the most grateful nations is my nation, the people of Israel, who have fought for their liberty and survival against impossible odds, in ancient and modern times alike.

I speak on behalf of the Jewish people and the Jewish state when I say to you, representatives of America, Thank you. Thank you for your unwavering support for Israel. Thank you for ensuring that the flame of freedom burns bright throughout the world. May God bless all of you. And may God forever bless the United States of America.

Key allies in its efforts to contain and pressure Iran have either fallen from power or face serious internal threats, the Libya war has further undermined the logic of nuclear negotiations, Israeli and Saudi fears are growing, and the risk of an unwanted and disastrous war has grown.

Upheaval argues that the 44's administration's strategy towards Iran had been more successful in the narrow task of pressuring Tehran than many had expected, but that the foundations of its strategy of containment are rapidly crumbling. At the same time, Iran has had difficulty taking advantage of the struggles of some of its key Arab rivals, partly because of the powerful memory of its 2009 repression of its own protest movement and partly because of the emergence of more attractive competitors for the leadership of the "Resistance" such as Turkey and the new Egypt.

The Saudi-led counter-revolution, particularly in Bahrain, threatens to repolarize the region in ways which could revive Iran's appeal across the region and undermine American efforts to reach out to emerging Arab publics. The risk of a rapid escalation to war along a range of flashpoints, from Little Satan's borders to the Gulf, is higher than many believe --- and such a war would radically repolarize the region, most likely against Great Satan.

Upheaval offers a range of policy recommendations to help guide 44's admin towards an effective rethinking of its policy towards Iran -- including an appeal to avoid repolarization and inflation of the Iranian threat, more effective engagement with Arab publics and with emerging new independent-minded Arab players such as Egypt and Turkey, and a different approach to the nuclear negotiation. Some arguments to be controversial -- including the case for Iran's diminished power, the skepticism about negotiations in the current environment, and the risks of aligning with the Saudi-driven campaign against Tehran.

Arab regimes will be preoccupied with threats to their survival driven not by Iran (though they will likely point fingers toward Tehran), but by their own political and economic failures. They will be highly attuned to the risks of adopting unpopular foreign policies

Money Shots Include:

Engage Newly Empowered Publics. The administration should lay out a vision that aligns Great Satan with the aspirations of publics in the Arab world and Iran, and demonstrate that commitment in practice. Focus on Human Rights and Universal Freedoms. Great Satan should call for the same universal rights and freedoms in Iran that it has articulated for the rest of the region, and significantly increase its focus on human rights in its approach to Tehran. Communicate Iran’s Weakness. The administration should launch a strategic communications campaign designed to highlight Iran’s irrelevance to the uprisings and dwindling soft power, and avoid the temptation to embrace narratives that give Tehran an undeserved centrality in the region’s transformation. Use Diplomacy to Shape the Future. A negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear challenge is unlikely in the short term, and this is not the time for a new public initiative. However, the administration should continue pursuing lower-level diplomacy and confidence-building measures designed to create possibilities for movement when conditions change. Watch Out for War. The administration should guard against sudden spirals to war based on miscalculations, fear and unpredictable proxy struggles. It should reject efforts to adopt the model of intervention applied in Libya to Iran, and continue to resist calls for military action.

Monday, May 23, 2011

While Great Satan's State and Defense Departments are both departments - complete with secretaries deputy secretaries - they are far from equal. DoD does tons of heavy lifting and has a budget to match while State tends to appear more like a think tank (albeit with branch offices in every nation state on earth).

"The past 10 years of unconventional conflict have reminded the military and its congressional overseers of the inherently political nature of war and the importance of nonkinetic capabilities — like civil affairs teams, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, rule of law educators, development and reconstruction specialists, counter-drug personnel and police trainers. These capabilities are as vital to contemporary conflict as some major weapons systems. Cutting funding for them is, therefore, a kind of unilateral disarmament.

"It’s time for national security conservatives and soft power advocates to call a truce and stand shoulder to shoulder. This new approach to the budget debate means working together to make public arguments for the importance of each other’s top line budget numbers — as Gates has — and ending bureaucratic budget sniping.

"For diplomacy and development advocates, that means not suggesting that Congress cut a fighter jet, or even a military marching band, to pay for innovative new State Department or USAID programs. For the military, it means not marginalizing the strategic necessity of State Department and USAID programs or excluding them from an operational role in the current security environment.

"Federal budget politics remain the quintessential zero-sum game. As Congress considers where to identify savings, it must acknowledge that defense, diplomacy and development cannot be devolved to state or local-level government. Instead, Congress should redirect its scalpel to departments and agencies whose missions are not as intrinsic to the federal government and to key drivers of long-term debt.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Aside from the delightful little Sgt Pepper ditties the All You Need Is Love Summer of Love bequeathedthe world, there are also those magical pre war 1967 borders betwixt Little Satan and what is now termed something something Palestine.

While there is very real cause celeb to LOL the establishment of the "Oscweim Borders" as a dangerous tempting temptation for surrounding nation states to launch akinda India like "Cold Start" attack and actually sever Little Satan in half.

In fact, the recent war games at the super secret daemoneoconic "Committee Of Five" collegiate coven predicted such an event:

Hiz'B'Allah and Syrian high jinkerey and threat of war suckered most of Little Satan's ground forces to Little Satan's North 40 (with a wicked thoughtful aperitf about striking, clearing and holding turf all the way to Litani River) just in time for a strike by a loose coalition of 'hostile nation states' that blitz'd out of 'East Palestine.' Reaching the Med, this 'enemy coalition' cut off Little Satan's population centers from the bulk of her army.

Or, a preventive pre emptive strike could trap may hold off Little Satan's IDF in civilian rich turf as Syria attempts to retake the ancient artillery sites on those golanilicious Golan Heights.

Effectively judging that 48 hours was the max time before foreign Peace Mongers interfered, East Palestine is hot real estate for a conventional old school set piece battle.

"...As part of a final peace settlement, Little Satan must have secure and recognized borders, which should emerge from negotiations between the parties. … In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Little Satan populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949."

Creating East Palestine also is a blessing for asymmetrical warfare ala rocketry. Most of Little Satan's cities and towns - busy making money, creating stuff and living large - (larger than any one else in 1000 kilometers in the AO's only fun, free choice functional democrazy) will be within range of nearly any missiles and rockets currently collected and deployed by a myriad of creepy creeps and non state actor outers.

Yet, all the jaw flapping about giving up turf magically acquired via victorious desperate counterattacks may be highly suspect:

"...It may well be that the administration knows that nothing will happen in the coming year, as Palestinians turn toward internal politics and next year’s elections, and seek to avoid negotiations.

"...The president suggested as much when he said of the new Fatah-Hamas unity agreement, “How can one negotiate with a party that has shown itself unwilling to recognize your right to exist? In the weeks and months to come, Palestinian leaders will have to provide a credible answer to that question.”

"...That is a good challenge, which they will fail to meet. If European or Arab leaders complain about the lack of progress, U.S. officials can refer back to that passage and say, “What can we do? We can’t ask the Israelis to negotiate with Hamas.”

Also it is note worthy to note the 1967 Borders could also be nom d'guerr'd "NakBah Borders."

If a new and independent Palestine conducts Westphalian Statecraft - creating Mutual Military Assistance Pacts, leasing bases to foreign militaries, crafting alliances etc., events could spiral out of control with funintended consequences of immense proportions.If one K'Ssam too many starts exploding skyscrapers in Tel Aviv or her near abroad is compassed with scary armies by governments - or semi state backed non state terroristical actors - that routinely call for Little Satan's destruction - Little Satan could launch a preventive pre emption herself - to wipe clean and draw again the face of the Middle East - resulting in an even more bigger Little Satan - that will make 1967 look quite tame.Pic - "And chose a list of targets"

The hostile nations surrounding Little Satan have sent thousands of men across its borders in a violation of the internat'lly recogged boundaries. While Little Satan's prime minister BiBi has called this influx an invasion, a variety of UN officials defended the infiltrators as innocent “demonstrators.” Internat'l law has a clear answer to the question who is right.

For this is not the first time in modern Middle Eastern affairs that an Arab autocracy has used massive marches of nominally civilian personnel to invade and undermine a neighboring state.In the past, such attempts have been denounced by the international community for what they are: a use of force against the territory of another state in violation of the U.N. Charter. Internat'l law is based on practical precedents, on the way given actions were legally judged by the world community in the past. It is a testament to the selective use of international law in the case of Little Satan that Morocco’s “Green March” into Western Sahara, by far the closest parallel to this week’s events, has not even been mentioned by world leadersIn 1975, Spain appeared ready to pull out of much or all of Western Sahara, a large desert region between Mauritania and Morocco. Rabat hoped to annex the mineral-rich territory, but its claims of sovereignty were successively denied by a report of a U.N. fact-finding mission and an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, both of which favored self-determination for the region.Morocco was not deterred. Right after being rebuffed by those international organs, it mounted the Green March — sending 350,000 unarmed Moroccans on a well-choreographed hike into Western Sahara. Spain was not willing to fight against such numbers, and evacuated the territory. The Moroccan military moved in, and the territory remains under Moroccan control to this day.The press has taken to calling the Arabs marching across Little Satan's frontiers “protesters.” In fact, “protests” are contained within a country; the organized crossing of a frontier is an invasion. In 1975, when Western Sahara was the victim, the world community was clear on this point (even though the Moroccans were unarmed, while the Syrians and Lebanese attacked IDF soldiers with stones and other objects). Other Arab leaders called the Green March “a violation of the sovereignty of” Western Sahara and “an act contrary to international law.” Prominent international scholars described it as an illegal use of force, a “stealing of the Sahara,” in the words of one of the leading international lawyers of the time. The U.N. Security Council passed a measure that “deplored” Morocco’s invasion.Moreover, despite the nominally civilian character of the marchers, several U.N. General Assembly resolutions recognized that the enterprise constituted a military occupation by Morocco. Observers noted that the march could not have gone off without the permission, and indeed encouragement, of King Hassan of Morocco, and thus he must take responsibility as if he had ordered army units across the border. It was a conquest despite the lack of arms: A large organized mob can be as forceful as an armed military unit. Indeed, as the Spanish capitulation proved, a march could be a more effective tool of conquest than a military strike against Western armies reluctant to fire on civilians.Perhaps world leaders today would rather not remind anyone of the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, which in many ways showcases how the international rules applied to Israel are not those that govern the rest of the world. Rabat has occupied Western Sahara almost as long as Israel has occupied the West Bank, and with much less legal pedigree. Yet international efforts to end Morocco’s occupation have been scant and half-hearted. The occupation has been effectively accepted since the “peace process” in the region collapsed in 2004, when Morocco rejected a peace plan endorsed by the Security Council, with no damage to its international relations.

Moreover, Morocco has implemented a massive policy of government-orchestrated settlement of Western Sahara. Yet the failed U.N. peace proposals did not contemplate uprooting a single Moroccan settler. Indeed, in the Security Council’s failed plan, the settlers, who now outnumber the natives, would get to vote in a plebiscite on the territory’s future.Many observers have suggested that infiltrations represent a powerful new Arab tool for influencing world opinion against Little Satan. Yet the march tactic is not civil disobedience: It is an attempt at foreign conquest by the Arab states, just as when Morocco did it. P.M. BiBi has filed an official complaint with the Security Council. Great Satan, a permanent member, should press for action on it. If that body wished to demonstrate its impartiality, it would condemn Little Satan’s invaders as surely as it did Western Sahara’s.

"...This month, however, as we commemorate another year of our expulsion — which we call the nakba, or catastrophe — the Palestinian people have cause for hope: this September, at the United Nations General Assembly, we will request international recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967 border and that our state be admitted as a full member of the United Nations. Specifically - like Vietnam? Another monster in the realm of the diplopolititary?Consider - a brand new Palestine (that so far seems unable to do the two "R's" - Official Recognition or even Renouncing Little Satan's destruction) would need to sign, enforce and live with magical guarantees with Little Satan.Yet New Palestine will most likely lack the power (or will) to issue or honor such Nakbah proofing guarantees unless certain elements, their spiritual fanboys and rowdy foreigners are dissed, marginalized or destroyed.Obviously, Palestine will need help. From whom?The only candidate would be Palestine's sponsor and creator - Great Satan. And don't kid yourselves kids - only Great Satan can make this happenSimply put if this new nation state comes into being before terror groups are driven out of the government, Palestine will require covert and overt American police and military resources to defend itself against many of its own people. It will start by teaching the new nation/state how to fight its people. Most likely, Great Satan will find we are helping it to fight its people. In the end, America will be fighting Palestine's people on Palestine's behalf.Great Satan will have created a Palestinian South Vietnam.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

It had been a rough ride since being granted statehood in late 2011. Crises had been brewing for months after the new improved hook up betwixt Fatah and HAMAS collapsed when West Bank voted in toto to oust the ancient PLOld school Fatah cats in favor of HAMAS' reps in the recent Parliament Elections.

The recent Mutual Military Assistance Pact signed with Egypt certainly emboldened HAMAS - perhaps too boldOn or about 17:33 hours local time May 15th 2013, tragedy strikes the new baby nation state of Palestine. Little Satan's Iron Dome System managed to destroy nearly a dozen rockets - yet seven errant Fajr 5 missiles launched from Khan Younis struck the Dome of the Rock thingy in J'Lem and totally obliterated it. Hilarity did not ensue. Despite releasing satellite and ground tracking vids of the missiles, their launch points, attempted interceptions and direct hits - Little Satan was considered the culprit."We know this illegitimate regime of the zionists has visited this deathly insult on all believers" thundered Hiz'B'Allah's Body Part Collector General from his safe as milk command bunker in Lebanon.HAMAS' leadership (all safe in Damascus) pledged to unleash "total war on the criminal usurpers" and denied the wrecked remnants of Iranian made rocketry streaming endlessly on Little Satan TV were launched from the Strip. The Strip also called on Aegypt to honor commitments "made in good faith." The new government in Cairo obliged - announcing a reinforced infantry division would be sent within a week.Not to be out done, Fatah's West Bank announced militarization of their turf - inviting any Arab League Armies and Air Forces bases to protect them from further "madness" by Little Satan.

King Hussein of Jordan tried to defuse the situation to no avail. Saudi Arabia announced two squadrons of F16's would be based near Ramallah - with an contingent of air defense systems. Syria formally requested Jordanian permission to transit two panzer divisions numbering over 35 thousand conscripts along with batteries of Russian made S 300 Anti Aircraft missiles. Persia pledged support and Libyan Radio called for volunteers to "storm the beaches" of Little SatanEmergency sessions at the UN produced nothing but non profit jawflapping. Turkey and Sudan penned several really mean sounding declarations and the Turkish Air Force went on full alert, conducting 'protection flights' for several sortees of ships carrying 'volunteers' to help with the 'disaster.' UN Ambassador Tzipi Livni warned Little Satan could not tolerate her near abroad 'compassed with armies" to anyone that would listen. Great Britain warned Sudan that increased traffic to Sinai"...looks highly dubious..and could be misconstrued..." Great Satan asked for a summit with heads of states.

The night of May 19th at Little Satan's shiny looking MoD complex was tense. The Egyptians were crossing the canal and would be past Rafah by breakfast. Syrian panzers were enroute across the Yarmuk river and in Jordan proper. Intermittent rocketry from Sinai based terrorist groups were increasing. Intell that Iraq had granted Persia overflights into Amman and two Iranian submarines had just left Suez sailing into the Med were the last straw.

wHoA!

h0t!

~hEy Y"all! DoN"t MiSs GsGf~!

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